1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical apparatus capable of efficiently making various settings accompanying communication of image data, and a medical system provided with the medical apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard has been attracting attention, which is the standard specifications for medical images and communication to enable exchange of imaging test information about patients and transmission of image data by mutually connecting digital image apparatuses of different manufacturers (multi-vendor) and different types (multi-modality) via a network or an image storage medium inside and outside a hospital.
In the DICOM standard, specification is made on a wide range of items such as tests among multi-vendors or multi-modality apparatuses; management of reservation data before giving medical treatment; transfer of picked-up image data and storage of the image data to a medical server; and search for image data from a terminal, storage of the image data into a storage medium and output of the image data to a printer.
As the digital image apparatuses, there are an image generation apparatus (for example, a medical apparatuses such as an endoscope apparatus, CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) apparatus, an ultrasound imaging apparatus, a nuclear medicine imaging apparatus, a CR apparatus, a film digitizer, and the like), an image storage apparatus (such as a medical server), image display/processing/diagnostic apparatuses (such as a CORT, a workstation and the like), an image printing apparatus (such as a laser imager), and the like. A medical system is constructed having such apparatuses.
It is expected that, by the DICOM standard realizing meaningful mutual connection among the image apparatuses in accordance with the purpose of medical treatment, the problems of the conventional image-based medical treatment system in which films are positioned as the center thereof (such as lack of storage space, loss of films and slow delivery) can be conquered, and newly added value of image-based medical treatment (such as digital image processing, computer-aided diagnosis and overall diagnostic imaging) can be obtained.
In the DICOM standard, various functions in communication are referred to as services. The services are classified in fields, such as “image search”, “test information search” and “image printing”, and defined as service classes. As examples of the service class, “Verification service” for network interconnection, “Storage service” for storing image information, “Query/Retrieve service” for searching for and acquiring a test image from a server, and the like are given.
A service class is configured by some SOPs (Service Object Pairs), and an SOP is defined by a set of one IOD (Information Object Definition) and one or more DIMSE's (DICOM Message Service Elements).
When DICOM communication is performed in a system provided with digital image apparatuses compatible with the DICOM standard, it is necessary that there exist an SCU (Service Class User) on the side of an apparatus having a DICOM application for performing a request for a service and the like (corresponding to a client in a client-server system) and an SCP (Service Class Provider) on the side of an apparatus having a DICOM application for performing an operation requested by the SCU (corresponding to a medical server), and one-for-one communication is necessarily performed in which one is an SCU and the other is an SCP.
As an example of a conventional technique related to apparatuses compatible to the DICOM standard, there is, for example, a diagnostic imaging apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-81083.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-81083 discloses a technique related to a diagnostic imaging apparatus which makes it possible to supply medical information which is not supported by the general DICOM standard to a medical viewer as a DICOM file together with image data and display the information, by being provided with image data generation means, display software storage means for storing display software for displaying medical image data and medical information, DICOM file generation means for generating a DICOM file, and DICOM file supply means for supplying the generated DICOM file to the medical viewer via a network.
The digital image apparatuses compatible with the DICOM standard include, for example, medical apparatuses such as an endoscope apparatus. Such a medical apparatus can be used not only for ordinary visible-light tests but also for special-light tests and ultrasound tests. In order to perform such various tests, endoscopic scopes, which are testing apparatuses to be used according to the tests, can be freely attached to and detached from the medical apparatus.